The meeting was called to order at 7:03 PM Eastern. Debilyn presided. Jeanene ran the Maestro board. Directors checked in. We all joined in to welcome Billy Sears to the Board.

Retreat Planning

Directors have agreed on holding the retreat during the weekend of September 18-21. Debilyn gave a presentation on the logistics of having the retreat in Portland and Denver/Boulder. Washington D.C. was also mentioned as a possibility.

Minutes

The minutes for July 29, 2014, have been shared and are awaiting approval. The minutes for July 22 still need to be transcribed and shared. Vince plans on having them ready next week.

Financial Report

Jeanene presented the report for August. Our anticipated cash expenditure this month is $1475.00 without debt payments, retreat expenses, or legal expenses. This number does include the annual fee for QuickBooks On-line and additional background checks as a part of Director vetting.

Jeanene is in the process of writing checks for those who requested membership refunds. She asked the other Directors to forward to her any requests for membership refunds that have been send to them.

Debilyn asked about the budget process. Jeanene responded that she believes she can prepare a draft budget in time for the retreat. In addition to conducting an internal audit, Jeanene is working on preparing and filing the IRS Form 941 for the Coffee Party USA.

Workflow Adoption

Tabled until next week. Everyone promised to study the materials presented to date.

New Meeting Time

Wednesdays at 9:00 PM Eastern/6:00 PM Pacific is the one slot that all members can make. Members voted 4-2-1 (Jeanene abstained) to hold meetings every 1st and 3rd Wednesday beginning in September.

Local Groups

Billy Sears posted a report in the agenda. He and Egberto are working on a list of local chapters. Billy suggested that the Coffee Party implement a mini 538 project. The goal is to get someone in every of one of the 436 districts (435 congressional districts plus th District of Columbia) who can be the Coffee Party’s eyes and ears so that where possible they can feed information and media (video and audio) to the newsroom. Billy also reported that the Coffee Party Starter Kit needed to be updated, as the language is from 2011 and is built towards an infrastructure of legally affiliated chapters. It also mentions Group Sites and Blue State Digital Tools which the organization does not use anymore. He linked to a page on meetup.com for the Coffee Party, noting that NationBuilder does not have an event management tool for organizers to promote their events on the website, while Meetup is a good way for locals to coordinate, and virtually “meet” as well.

Dan Aronson has offered to volunteer his services and Billy will be perusing the volunteer constituents that have shown expressed interest in local organizing and see about drafting a few more individuals to help in building the ship.

Billy’s vision is that we reach the point where we are coordinating weekly, or bi-weekly actions on a national level and also working with local organizers to produce grassroots campaigns quarterly, or more often depending on where our cause takes us and what events transpire.

Volunteer Update

Debilyn reported that the next volunteer call is scheduled for Thursday 8/7 and every 2 weeks at 8 PM Eastern / 5 PM Pacific.

Website Redesign

Cameron updated the Board on the actions he’s undertaken to improve the user and member experience on our website, including all of the efforts he’s made to coordinate with NationBuilder as well as well as other people he has contacted to help him with the task. The website redesign call will begin at 8:30 PM Eastern, tonight, immediately after the Board meeting.

Channel Marketing

Tonya posted a report in the agenda. She reported that Debilyn has been passing along emails to her from other groups wishing to coordinate with the Coffee Party. Dan Aronson passed along a list as well. Tonya met with Emily Heffling, the Virginia director of Chesapeake Bay Climate Action Network and will also contact Ted Glick of Chesapeake Bay Climate Action Network to see if he can interview with us.

Building a pipeline for volunteers: Tabled until next meeting.

Websites Housekeeping

MOTION: to renew the CitizenIntervention domains. Motion was made by Tonya, seconded by Cameron and PASSED 4-1-2 (Tonya and Cameron abstained).

MOTION: to renew the democracymeetup.com domain. Motion was made by Debilyn, seconded by Egverto, and FAILED 0-6-1 (Billy abstained).

Executive Session

The Board entered executive session.

MOTION: to invite Tim Danahey to the join the Board as Director of Member and Public Relations pending successful candidate vetting. The motion passed unanimously. The board exited executive session.

Closing
Members checked out. The meeting adjourned at 8:22 PM EDT. The next meeting will be at 7:00 PM EDT on Wednesday, August 12, 2014.

Respectfully submitted,

Vince Lamb, Coffee Party USA Board Secretary

Minutes edited 10/3/2014 by motion to clarify the language on the resolution in Executive session. Motion made by Debilyn, seconded by Tonya, passed unanimously by internet vote.